All posts tagged: Felipe Pantone

Bending Perceptions at ONO’U: ASTRO, OKUDA & Graffiti Couture: ONO’U TAHITI 2017: DISPATCH 3

October 4, 2017 Artists

This week BSA takes you to the French Polynesian Islands to see the new murals going up for this tropical island cultural festival called ONO’U Tahiti 2017. We’re happy to bring you the daily events and the insights as we discover them.

After some logistical challenges with the cherry picker, Astro has wasted no time converting the side of a building into a perception-bending illusion for downtown Papeete here in Tahiti.

But then, illusions and perception are all we have, right? And it is many artists pastime to play with both.

ASTRO. Process shot. ONO’U Tahiti 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

This new ONO’U Festival mural is next to a huge gas station and across the street from a gun store selling high-powered firearms (they might be toys) and here we have a French graffiti writer hailing from two crews (ODV and CBA) that appears to reconfigure the basic structure of a building while adorning it.

Additionally the dude is crafting a uniquely personal career with his optic artworks on buildings, roofs, pavement, t-shirts, screenprints, and canvasses.

ASTRO. Process shot. ONO’U Tahiti 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Likewise Okuda is playing with traditional figurative forms and natural symbols that recalls abstract geometry of the Art Deco filtered through surreal wire-framing models. The cheerful palette is right at home here in the tropical islands, the somewhat domestic scenes popping up in your dreams, symbols of something, but you’re not sure what.

Aside from that, there is a daily slow unveiling of the piece, with it’s bricked faced mom from the 1940s and chirping birds near her head. We watched as it halted at least one small boy who walking by and holding his mothers’ hand. He surveyed the work in progress and begin and pointing and questioning and explaining … and refusing to leave the parking lot.

ONO’U director Sarah Roopinia with ASTRO and crew sorting the lift. Process shot. ONO’U Tahiti 2017. (photo © Steven P. Harrington)

Tropical birds are showing up in FinDAC’s piece as well, a balancing act of some manner that we need to ask him about. Felippe Pantone is making progress on his mammoth piece as well and a general fragrance of aerosol spray permeates the activities within the museum in preparation for the block party on Friday night.

Although that aerosol fragrance was also flooding the bank lobby last night during the chic and street flavored fashion show extravaganza conceived of by ONO’U festival visionary Sarah Roopinia, who paired graffiti writer/Street Artists with fashion designers and models and presented some grand visions to this tony crowd of Tahitians.

OKUDA. Process shot. ONO’U Tahiti 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

With Soten and Marko93 actively spraying tags on models dresses before the crowd in the multi-story foyer during the cocktail/ hor d’oeuvre/ orchid soaked reception, one wondered if it was the tropically fresh minty drinks or the freshly sprayed paint fumes that were getting us high.

Add to this a thumping soundtrack, psychedelic motion graphics, and high-heeled gently-swerving models careening down the runway and you begin to wonder where you are exactly.

OKUDA. Process shot. ONO’U Tahiti 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Amidst the flashing lights and live TV coverage, the crowd was drinking in the sight of spray painted couture-meets-street-culture-meets-traditional Polynesian fashion, something many hadn’t seen before. The climax was seeing the artists on the arms of models for the final curtain call; a final head-spinning communal experience of perception-bending illusions on parade.

See images from the fashion show below, followed by a video of highlights by Jaime Rojo.

The ONO’U Fashion Show featuring a model wearing a garment painted by Phat1, 3 dancers, and a TV camera man. (photo © Steven P. Harrington)

The ONO’U Fashion Show featuring a model wearing a garment painted by Inkie. (photo © Steven P. Harrington)

The ONO’U Fashion Show finale with models and artists including Astro, Phat1, Abuz, Marko93, Lady Diva, Rival, and Inkie. (photo © Martha Cooper)

FINDAC. Process shot. ONO’U Tahiti 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Felipe Pantone. Process shot. ONO’U Tahiti 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Mrs Martine CHENESON at the Fashion Show. ONO’U Tahiti 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Credits for the ONO’U Fashion Show 2017:
Concept and design by Sarah Roopinia, Dressmaker: Myrna from Kahaia Couture, Accessories: Turere & Rio from O’TAHI Creations & Tevei from TEVEI PERLE, Choreographed by Sarah Roopinia and Hiro from HANATIKA, Decoration by Hiro, MUA by Teura Allain and Jad’Art, Hair by Mr. Johns & Hiti from UNIK HAIR

VHILS, LEIS, and Roosters: The Charm of ONO’U Tahiti 2017: Dispatch 1

October 2, 2017 Artists

Closer to Auckland than Oakland and closer to heaven than Marge Simpson’s hair, the islands of French Polynesia are sort of difficult to get to but once you are here, the marina and mountain and the cats and the chickens will charm your lei right off of you.

Vhils. Detail. ONO’U Tahiti 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Yes, in fact, we did receive a traditional maeva at the airport this morning at 5 am from Sarah Roopina and Jean Ozonder – a hand strung necklace of frangipani and orchids placed around the shoulders. Before you can get wowed at the previous murals from their earlier “ONO’U” festivals like stuff from Inti, Seth Globepainter, Bordalo II and Okuda just sprinkled through downtown Papeete, you are undoubtedly stunned by the power of their flower game.

No joke, with the leis and the blossom behind the ear, the people know how to bring an enchanting portion of poetry to everyday exchanges. Often a gardenia and often fragrant, it is not easy to overlook the wearer and appreciate their simple floral addition.

Vhils. ONO’U Tahiti 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Turn the corner and at the table of a sidewalk café is the piece de resistance, as they may say here: a warm and smiling woman joking conspiratorially with her lunchmate and smoking a cigarette with a veritable crown of blossoms. This tiare is fragrant and gently cushioned by green these floral crowns, made of blossoms of yellow, white, fushia… that’s probably why the new Vhils piece proudly showcases this crown of blooming tropical nature in full glory. Sorry kids, these folks have the flower situation on lockdown.

Vhils. ONO’U Tahiti 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Meanwhile the mother hen and her chicks whom we almost ran over with the mural-catching truck could not have been freer. Jaime jumped out of the truck after we jammed on the brakes and flashed the parking lights so cars behind us didn’t smash into the bumper. Sort of unperturbed by the kerfuffle, the white/beige mama chicken with a red beak flew a couple of feet back into the dirt driveway and the orbish chick fluttered after her.

Findac. Process shot. ONO’U Tahiti 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

And we gotta name check the strutting attitude and fantastic feather patterns on the roosters that are in the streets, on lawns, strolling on the waterside signing at the top of their lungs. We’ve heard more roosters belting out the hits in the last 12 hours here in Tahiti than Mrs. Sinatra heard during a long weekend at Ceasar’s Palace.

Yes, there are Street Artists arriving right now and whom we are yet to meet and some talents are already scaling walls like FinDAC and Okuda and Felipe Pantone and Astro. Last night the trio called BLAST ART blew 300 peoples mind’s with modern projection mapping piece combining a newly painted chameleon on a wall and a number of Jedi mind tricks to kick off the festival yesterday, but for us today, the flowers and the chickens are the winners of ONO’U.

Findac. Process shot. ONO’U Tahiti 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Flower market. ONO’U Tahiti 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

BSA Images Of The Week: 07.02.17

July 2, 2017 Artists, BSA Images Of The Week

4th of July weekend here in New York so we are headed to a barbecue and a frisbee game. Maybe to the Jersey shore for some sun. Happy 4th ya’ll! Looks like the country needs to take itself back from the corporate overlords – if we want to declare the US to be independent ever again. Right now we’re in trouble, gurl – and everyone knows it!

So here’s our weekly interview with the streets, this week featuring Banksy, Clint Mario, Crash, El Sol 25, Felipe Pantone, FinDAC, Hopare, Hot Tea, Invader, John Ahearn, Logan Hicks, Mark Jenkins, Resistance is Female, SaxSix, and Sonny Sundancer.

Top image: Sonny Sundancer (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Hopare. Urban Art Fair NYC. June 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

John Ahearn(photo © Jaime Rojo)

El Sol 25 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Crash. Urban Art Fair NYC. June 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Clint Mario (photo © Jaime Rojo)

SacSix for Welling Court 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Mark Jenkins. Urban Art Fair NYC. June 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Logan Hicks. Urban Art Fair NYC. June 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

#resistanceisfemale (photo © Jaime Rojo)

#resistancisfemale (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Banksy’s corner at Urban Art Fair NYC. June 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

FinDac. Urban Art Fair NYC. June 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Felipe Pantone. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Felipe Pantone (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Hot Tea tribute to Laser Burners (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Invader. Urban Art Fair NYC. June 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Invader (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Untitled. Summer 2017. Manhattan, NYC. June 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

BSA Images Of The Week: 03.05.17

March 5, 2017 Artists, BSA Images Of The Week

We had a chance at Spring this week, and then it blew away. We’re back to the Antarctic for a few days.

NYC was inundated by art fairs as well, which was swell. Volta, Scope, Clio, Spring/Break – which was surprisingly not political or contentious, given its rather outsider status. Fair talk was glum, attendance was actually light at times, and most people where blaming you-know-who.

Perhaps that’s why Thursday’s opening of Trumpomania was packed and rather sweaty, although when you have 30 countries and 30 artists represented, you will probably fill the place. Even so, the energy was palpable, and guests freely “voiced their concerns”, as your high school guidance counselor might say, about a seemingly corrupt cabal that is practicing shock and awe on/upon the country daily.

One portly fellow at the show with a perspiring red face, beige cardigan, overcoat, and a backpack possibly containing an anvil, accosted us forcefully with champagne flute in hand to nearly yell for 10-12 minutes straight about Russians, cabinet heads that want to destroy their departments, Goldman Sachs, Exxon, the wall, book burning, impeachment, recusals, Jewish cemetery vandalism, teleprompter scripted calmness, possible alzheimer’s, and general viciousness. It was a Greatest Hits album minus the catchy hooks and clever phrasing – but with all the drums and guitar solos. (For you kids, an album was this flat wax disc that contained 9 songs you didn’t want and 1 song you did… oh never mind.) Just before he ignited into flames or triggered the heart attack which appeared to be imminent, we were mercifully interrupted and led away to look at OLEK’s pussy
art and Icy & Sot’s crocheted barbed wire fence piece.

Out on the streets of New York and elsewhere, artists are nearly yelling as well with their text based and figurative Street Art work. There appears to be no rest right now, and everyone is losing sleep or fighting or shaking their heads or “finding healthy strategies to achieve a sense balance” in a chaotic gritty abrasive beautiful city that somehow keeps racing forward no matter what the hell is going on.

City that never sleeps? We hear that.

Here’s our weekly interview with the streets, this week featuring: Ann Lewis, Beast, BustArt, El Sol 25, Empty Boy, Epic Uno, Felipe Pantone, Icy & Sot, Jerk Face, King, Koralie Supakitch, Mikael Takacs, Nico Panda, OLEK, Sen2, Smells, Stinkfish, and UFO 907.

Top image: UFO907 . Smells (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Unidentified Artist on the street. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Unidentified Artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Sen2 at Trumpomania. Salomon Arts Tribeca. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Icy & Sot at Trumpomania. Salomon Arts Tribeca. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Olek at Trumpomania. Salomon Arts Tribeca. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Mikael Takacs at Trumpomania. Salomon Arts Tribeca. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Ann Lewis (photo © Jaime Rojo)

King (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Empty Boy . Stinkfish in Medellin, Colombia. (photo © Stinkfish)

Felipe Pantone (photo © Jaime Rojo)

El Sol 25 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Nico Panda . Beast (photo © Jaime Rojo)

BustArt. Basel, Switzerland. (photo © BustArt)

Jerk Face (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Koralie Supakitch (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Koralie Supakitch. Deatil. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Epic Uno (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Untitled. Manhattan. March 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

“Urvanity” Fair Opens in Madrid, 68 Artists + Galleries + Walls + Panels

February 27, 2017 Artists

You may not realize upon first glance through the series of modular white walled temporary gallery rooms, but this fine art on display all has origins in street practice.

Over the past long weekend Madrid’s Urvanity fair at The Palacio Neptuno showcased a sweeping cross-selection of crisply framed names – many of which are being identified as Street Artists en route to “Contemporary Artists”.

Banksy. Urvanity 2017. Madrid, Spain. February 2017. (photo © Alfonso Herranz)

Hung at eye level, carefully spaced, and illuminated under tracked lighting, the studio work of nearly 70 Graffiti/Street/Urban artists went on this weekend in one of the first fairs dedicated entirely to this evermore emerging category.

With fresh works from artists like JonOne, Fin DAC, Pixelpancho, Miss Van, Jef Aérosol, Sixe Art, L Atlas, Stikki Peaches, and Ben Eine, it is a mostly Eurocentric roster of galleries you’ve come to know in the last decade or so from places like Amsterdam, Paris, Milan, Zurich, London, among others, and of course Madrid. Under the direction of Sergio Sancho, an advertising professional who has worked with major global brands, the fair calls the works on display New Contemporary Art and the program includes a companion mural campaign in Madrid streets featuring Eine, Jason Woodside, L’Atlas, PREF, MESA and Mohammed Lghacham.

Laurence Vallières. Urvanity 2017. Madrid, Spain. February 2017. (photo © Alfonso Herranz)

While receiving increasing support from serious press, museums, auctions, and festivals over the last decade and a half, it has been a great challenge for both commercial/social and historical/academic scholarship to agree on a moniker for these combined movements and makers – one that fairly encompasses the myriad motivations, styles of expression and intersecting cultures that have evolved from a half century of art on the streets.

Pro 176 . L’Atlas. Urvanity 2017. Madrid, Spain. February 2017. (photo © Alfonso Herranz)

With the inauguration of the Urvanity Mahou Talks Program during the fair, featuring again the artist Ben Eine and cultural curator Cedar Lewisohn, this topic and many more that continue to be raised can be examined and discussed in meaningful ways. At BSA we are finding that our participation in these panels, presentations, and discussions as well as being in the audience has furthered our understanding and appreciation for this natural and growing desire of scholarship.

The Urvanity program of conferences, debates and presentations here collect artists, curators and cultural managers with these purposes in mind and naturally will help collectors and fans contemplate these artists at the fair and better appreciate the bridge between the street and the fine art presented here. A strong first showing, you can expect to see Urvanity back again next year.

An outdoor mural from the Urvanity Instagram page. “We are excited to be able to be painting incredible murals in #Madrid. This one is by @oiterone on Calle de la Cebada!”

Miss Van . Peca. Urvanity 2017. Madrid, Spain. February 2017. (photo © Alfonso Herranz)

Tilt . Moses & Taps. Urvanity 2017. Madrid, Spain. February 2017. (photo © Alfonso Herranz)

Nano4814. Urvanity 2017. Madrid, Spain. February 2017. (photo © Alfonso Herranz)

Vermibus . Jordan Seiler . OX. Urvanity 2017. Madrid, Spain. February 2017. (photo © Alfonso Herranz)

Sixe Paredes . Suso33 Urvanity 2017. Madrid, Spain. February 2017. (photo © Alfonso Herranz)

D*Face . Jason Woodside . Felipe Pantone . Pref . Okuda. Urvanity 2017. Madrid, Spain. February 2017. (photo © Alfonso Herranz)

Urvanity 2017. Madrid, Spain. February 2017. (photo © Alfonso Herranz)

Sergio Sancho and the Urvanity team outside the inaugural exhibition Palacio Neptuno.
Check out their Instagram here.

For more information please visit:

URVANITY
Palacio de Neptuno
Calle de Cervantes, 42. Madrid
From February 23rd 26th, 2017
www.urvanity art.com

BSA “Images Of The Year” for 2016 (VIDEO)

December 14, 2016 Artists

Of the thousands of images he took this year in places like New York, Berlin, Dresden, Moscow, Marrakesh, Detroit and Miami, photographer Jaime Rojo found that the figurative image still stands prominently in the Street Art scene – along with text-based, abstract and animal world themes.

Surprisingly the scene does not appear to be addressing the troubled and contentious matters of the political and social realms in a large way, but the D.I.Y. scene keeps alive and defies the forces of homogeneity with one-of-a-kind small wheat-pastes, stencils, sculptures, and aerosol sprayed pieces alongside the enormous and detailed paintings that take days to complete.

Every Sunday on BrooklynStreetArt.com, we present “Images Of The Week”, our regular interview with the street. Primarily New York based, BSA interviewed, shot, and displayed images from Street Artists from more than 100 cities over the last year, making the site a truly global resource for artists, fans, collectors, gallerists, museums, curators, academics, and others in the creative ecosystem. We are proud of the help we have given and thankful to the community for what you give back to us and we hope you enjoy this collection – some of the best from 2016.

Brooklyn Street Art 2016 Images of the Year by Jaime Rojo includes the following artists;

1Up, Above, Adele Renault, Alaniz, Amy Smalls, George Vidas, GEN2, Apexer, BordaloII, Buff Monster, C215, Collin Van Der Sluijs, Super A, David Choe, D*Face, Duke Riley, El Sol 25, Sean 9 Lugo, EQC, Faile, Faith47, Faust, Shantell Martin, Felipe Pantone, Hueman, Droid907, Icy & Sot, InDecline, Invader, JJ Veronis, Jilly Ballistic, John Ahearn, JR, London Kaye, Louis Masai, MadC, Marshal Arts, Mongolz, MSK, Rime, Myth, Nina Chanel, Optic Ninja, Otto Osch Schade, Panmela Castro, Plastic Jesus, QRST, Reed b More, Remi Rough, REVS, Self Made, Sharon Dela Cruz, Maripussy, Specter, Stikman, Strok, Swoon, Ted Pim, Thievin’ Stephen, Farin Purth, Thomas Allen, Tobo, Uriginal, Vermibus, Vhils, Wing, Yes Two, Zola.

The artist featured on the main graphic is D*Face as shot by Jaime Rojo in New York.

Miami Basel/Wynwood 2016 Wrap: Parade of Eye-Popping Beauty at a Portentous Time

December 7, 2016 Artists

An embarrassment of riches in so many ways, the Wynwood Street Art and mural scene is outrageously sexy, flashy, ugly, posey, pretty, proliferate and quizzically content-free. The annual outdoor urban art visual carnival that accompanies Art Basel in Miami is full of hi/low expectation and spectacle, and it confidently delivers on both.

1010. Goldman Global Arts. Hard Rock Stadium. Art Basel Miami 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Long-limbed and shimmery sleek women are often working the sidewalks like runways, the men are carefully posing/not posing/posing with open shirts and genial braggadocio, and there are thousands, more likely millions of selfies taken in front of painted walls.

International art fans are mixing with skater kids and hip hop heads and egg-headed social scientists and teenage marching bands and they are all gawking and interacting with loquacious mamacitas and bearded lumbersexuals; this is not your average clambake.

Sometimes it is just weird; flourescence mixed with plaid, shot-callers and violins, strollers and stillettos, an undertone of aggression and sexual tension, salt-of-the-earth with self-admiring clubbers, perfect skin and aerosol painted hands, a whiff of weed and a sense of wonder waiting to be discovered.

Audrey Kawasaki at The Hotel. Goldman Global Arts. South Beach. Art Basel Miami 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

While there was a parade of 40 or so citizens and activists carrying signs and handing out flyers down the street to protest the oil pipelines taking sacred lands from native tribes and polluting natural water supplies, the thousands of art fans flooding the Wynwood neighborhood of Miami would have been hard pressed to find any Street Art talking about those topics.

Ironically the political shockwaves this year in Miami seemed to emanate from behind doors at the fair with Sam Durant’s “End White Supremacy” piece that many interpreted as a direct response to the election of a president whose followers include radical organizations that champion white supremacy. Alas, the piece was made in 2008, and although its hand-style emulates the hit and run scrawl of some graffiti on the street, it was a thoughtfully executed piece constructed as an illuminated sign.

David Choe. Goldman Global Arts. Wynwood Walls. Art Basel Miami 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

With one very notable exception, the enormous and frightful mural featuring Donald Trump as Heath Ledger’s Joker wielding a knife at the neck of the Statue of Liberty with the screaming headline “Come On… What the Hell Do You Have to Lose?” by 12 artists for The Bushwick Collective/Mana Urban Arts Project, the professionalization of Street Artists and their murals may be steering the paintings in Wynwood away from in-your-face activism.

Granted, no one is thinking that commercially branded ventures that actually pay artists to paint will encourage the outright expression of social or political opinions – that may challenge or frighten potential customers and investors. Hotel lobbies need murals, sport cars need decorative painting, beer cans need labels. A number of liquor and lifestyle companies have invited artists here over the last few years and paid them to make their special events and products visually appealing, but little else.

David Choe portrait of Martha Cooper and her cat Mélia. Goldman Global Arts. Wynwood Walls. Art Basel Miami 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

The newly refurbished Hard Rock stadium a few miles north of Miami features huge mural installations by international Street Artists that are curated by Goldman Global Arts, a division of Goldman Properties, the same real estate organization that has brought artists from around the world to the Wynwood Walls compound and featured their fine art canvasses in gallery expositions since the late 2000s. The pieces are opus works in an unusual setting and now sports fans are going to be up close and personal with some of the bigger names in Street Art right now.

It would be hypocritical for anyone to expect that these artists should accept commercial work and yet disrespect guidelines about the content. Similarly, expecting artists not to seek commercial opportunities for fear of “selling out” is arrogant and unrealistic and often the convenient provenance of privileged youth who dabble in “slumming” as a rebellious lifestyle. Later they are bankers.

David Choe. Goldman Global Arts. Wynwood Walls. Art Basel Miami 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Even so, where’s the anger right now? Why didn’t you see a lot of furious diatribes, challenges to power, and mockery of small-minded thinking on the street in Wynwood – and what would it take for Street Art to embrace its power to affect social and political change?

Just posing the question here now, again – as the topics of impending fascism, the increasing acts of racism, anti-Semitism, homophobia, corruption, oligarchy, state-corporatism, and a systematic eroding of respect for our institutions – all came up in conversations at bars, art openings, panel discussions, and roof parties.

Okuda. Goldman Global Arts. Wynwood Walls. Art Basel Miami 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

The murals you see here are often technically superb and their themes, while muted, may address some of the larger themes affecting society, but one wonders if there is an internalized censorship that we have accepted.

These images are admittedly of a modest percentage of the hundreds of legal murals and illegally dashed-off pieces we saw this week, but that’s only because we have edited for our individual aesthetics, not because of content. Also admittedly, as people in the arts, we are exhausted from the recent election and all it portends, and we were happy for some glorious eye candy to salve the psychic wounds – so maybe we were selectively seeing what we wanted to.

Probably not too much though.

For an art practice with some serious and proud roots in activism, the walls in Miami are curiously quiet. But they definitely look amazing.

Pixel Pancho. Goldman Global Arts. Wynwood Walls. Art Basel Miami 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Findac. Goldman Global Arts. Wynwood Walls. Art Basel Miami 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Faith 47. Goldman Global Arts. Wynwood Walls. Art Basel Miami 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Felipe Pantone. Goldman Global Arts. Wynwood Walls. Art Basel Miami 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Martin Whatson. The Raw Project. Eneida M. Hartner Elementary School. Wynwood / Art Basel Miami 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Mr. June. The Raw Project. Eneida M. Hartner Elementary School. Wynwood /Art Basel Miami 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

INO. The Raw Project. Eneida M. Hartner Elementary School. Wynwood /Art Basel Miami 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

INO. The Raw Project. Eneida M. Hartner Elementary School. Wynwood /Art Basel Miami 2016. (photo © INO)

Shepard Fairey. Mana Urban Arts Projects. Wynwood /Art Basel Miami 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Vhils. Goldman Global Arts. Hard Rock Stadium. Art Basel Miami 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Pichi & Avo. Detail. Goldman Global Arts. Hard Rock Stadium. Art Basel Miami 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Pichi & Avo. Goldman Global Arts. Hard Rock Stadium. Art Basel Miami 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Tristan Eaton. Detail. Goldman Global Arts. Hard Rock Stadium. Art Basel Miami 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

The London Police. Detail. Goldman Global Arts. Hard Rock Stadium. Art Basel Miami 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Hueman. Detail. Goldman Global Arts. Hard Rock Stadium. Art Basel Miami 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Jen Stark. Goldman Global Arts. Hard Rock Stadium. Art Basel Miami 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Fintan Magee. Goldman Global Arts. Hard Rock Stadium. Art Basel Miami 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Fintan Magee. Detail. Goldman Global Arts. Hard Rock Stadium. Art Basel Miami 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Fintan Magee. Goldman Global Arts. Hard Rock Stadium. Art Basel Miami 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

AVAF. Goldman Global Arts. Hard Rock Stadium. Art Basel Miami 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Case Maclaim. Goldman Global Arts. Hard Rock Stadium. Art Basel Miami 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Bordalo II. Uninhibited Festival 2016. Wynwood /Art Basel Miami 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Peeta. Wynwood /Art Basel Miami 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Knarf. Work in progress. Wynwood /Art Basel Miami 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Our week’s coverage on BSA:

Wynwood Awakes: BSA x UN BERLIN ART BASEL 2016: Dispatch 1

Police Arrest in Miami: BSA x UN BERLIN ART BASEL 2016: Dispatch 2

You’ll Need Good Shoes: BSA x UN BERLIN ART BASEL 2016: Dispatch 3

Clubhouse Chemistry in a Warehouse : BSA x UN BERLIN ART BASEL 2016: Dispatch 4

Paint, Protest, Party : BSA x UN BERLIN ART BASEL 2016: Dispatch 5

Urban Contemporary Inside the Fair : BSA x UN BERLIN ART BASEL 2016: Dispatch 6

This article is the result of a collaborative partnership with BSA and Urban Nation (UN).

This article is also published on The Huffington Post.

Urban Contemporary Inside the Fair : BSA x UN BERLIN ART BASEL 2016: Dispatch 6

December 3, 2016 Artists

Art Basel in Miami is part of an annual three city fair that includes Hong Kong and it’s name sake Basel in Switzerland. This years fair in Miami hosts 269 galleries and your brain will be fried after the first 150, in an excellent way.

Okuda at Retrospect Galleries. Scope / Art Basel Miami 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

An art fair is not really a rarefied environment but many patrons walk with that air, presumably because they find it to be a flattering look, but most people are just excited to discover new ideas and techniques for channeling the creative spirit in a multitude of ways.

Far from the action of the actual graffiti and Street Art scene in long rows of white wall cubicles that average the price of a new car to rent for four days, SCOPE nonetheless has a healthy number of Street Artists represented with studio pieces that rock as hard as any killer piece under a bridge.

Felipe Pantone at Mirus Gallery. Scope / Art Basel Miami 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Inside this environment we’re probably calling the category Urban Contemporary and it’s always interesting to see how the street practice translates to a frame on a wall – and who can do it successfully. Maybe it shouldn’t, but it’s always surprising to see how many other derivative, hackneyed, or underwhelming works are proudly on display – by artists whose main connection to actual street culture is tenuous at best.

But imitators and replicators have existed in every genre of the plastic arts for as long as anyone reading this has been alive, so it shouldn’t be a shock when you have seen 5 Banksy-esque canvasses even before you stop at the commissary for your $14 pressed vegetable panini.

Hueman at Mirus Gallery. Scope / Art Basel Miami 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

For the actual fans and collectors of actual graffiti and Street Artists, it may be irksome to see the common tropes of colorful paint drips and ironic pop images mutated and slapped with cleverness – especially in view of the fact that there is a fleet of new kids outside in our cities and streets today whose work is regularly amazing.

Since many of the current generation of Street Artists have had a little or a lot of formal training as artists, the quality of work in the good spots is very high and we were happy to find many excellent pieces throughout the fair by folks whose name you may recognize. Here is a sampling of pieces we found during an audit of this year’s SCOPE just so you have an idea of the offerings.

Cinta Vidal at Thinkspace Gallery. Scope / Art Basel Miami 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Cyrcle at Station 16 Gallery. Scope / Art Basel Miami 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Clet Abraham at Graffik Gallery. Scope / Art Basel Miami 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Dotmasters at Graffik Gallery. Scope / Art Basel Miami 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Sitk at Graffik Gallery. Scope / Art Basel Miami 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

2501 and Cryptik at Innerstate Gallery. Scope / Art Basel Miami 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Pixel Pancho at Innerstate Gallery. Scope / Art Basel Miami 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Swoon at Chandran Gallery. Scope / Art Basel Miami 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Logan Hicks and Joe Iurato at Station 16 Gallery. Scope / Art Basel Miami 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

C215 at Next Street Gallery. Scope / Art Basel Miami 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Kurar at Next Street Gallery. Scope / Art Basel Miami 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Denis McNett at Paradigm Gallery. Scope / Art Basel Miami 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

This article is the result of a collaborative partnership with BSA and Urban Nation (UN).

You’ll Need Good Shoes: BSA x UN BERLIN ART BASEL 2016: Dispatch 3

November 30, 2016 Artists

You’ll Need Good Shoes.

That’s what most people will tell you in the Wynwood District of Miami if you want to see everything, especially now that the murals go further north up the grid.

Street Artists are participating in singular and group gallery shows, mural shows, special events, DJ parties, installations, dinners, openings, and the occasional garbage can fire with a plastic bag full of beers.

The crowds are going to start hitting these sidewalks and clogging the streets in the next day or two but until then, aaaaaahhh summer!

Wait, tomorrow’s December. Technically not summer in the Northern Hemisphere.

Brooklyn clearly doesn’t know what to do when he gets to visit these palm treed parts of the country with his southern cousins.

Enjoy some of the action on the street from today.

This article is the result of a collaborative partnership with BSA and Urban Nation (UN).

BSA Film Friday: 09.30.16

September 30, 2016 Artists

Our weekly focus on the moving image and art in the streets. And other oddities.

Now screening :

1. “Street Food” from Mathieu Roquigny
2. Moses & Taps™ in Moscow
3. Panmela Castro in NYC “Women’s Rights are Human Rights”
4. Detroit: Murals In The Market. By Selina Miles
5. Murals In The Market 2016 Brings 40+ New Murals To Detroit. By Selina Miles

BSA Special Feature: “Street Food” from Mathieu Roquigny

Some simple stencil activism well placed can be very effective. Vulgar, absurd, playful. Call it what you want, but Mathieu Roquigny is the first one we have seen do it. Do not view during your morning donut and coffee.

Moses & Taps™ in Moscow

Famed train writers and fine artists in the gallery, Moses & Taps got a gig with a paint manufacturer and made a short 50 second overview of three walls they recently did in Moscow.

Panmela Castro in NYC “Women’s Rights are Human Rights”

With her lyrical touch and the softest of soundtracks, Panmaela Castro makes New York look like a welcoming tropical oasis. Also we thank her for the reminder that women’s rights are human rights, because it is evident that not everyone knows this.

Detroit: Murals In The Market. By Selina Miles

We had the pleasure of meeting the spectacular video storyteller Selina Miles in Detroit. She only confirmed to us that the spirit and intellect and talent are all there and so much more is in store from this fine person. Here are a couple of the short videos she made with the 1xRun team while in the Motor City.

Dozens Of Murals Take Shape In Eastern Market For Murals In The Market 2016. By Selina Miles

DETROIT: Murals In The Market. Dispatch 5. Details to Blow Your Mind

September 24, 2016 Artists

This week BSA is in Detroit with our hosts 1XRun for the Murals in the Market festival they are hosting with 50+ artists from various countries and disciplines and creative trajectories. In a city trying to rise from the economic and post-industrial ashes it is often the dynamic grassroots energy and vision of artists that sets the tone for how the community evolves.

Detroit rocked in many ways this week, not least because Roula David and Jesse Corey know how to manage a big moveable feast of walls and artists and food and lodging and parties and openings and donuts and a print business and gallery and still manage to have quality time with Oscar, their four year old chocolate pug-mix master who pretty much goes wherever he wants and investigates the scene.

Together David and Corey and the team spread their wings wide to make sure everybody gets taken care of, and we salute their talent and passion. The 1XRun crew, and there are like 20 of them, don’t mess around when getting equipment and cold water bottles and cans of paint and ladders to the artists, along with a hundred other small and large favors and forms of assistance that make this thing run smoothly. And kindly.

The details can really make the difference, in life and in art of course. Today we’ll show you some of the details of a few pieces that resonate from this years collection of vibrating visuals on the street in this part of east Detroit. And you can see that some murals are close to being finished as well. A selection of the completed walls will follow soon from this successful second year of Murals in the Market.

DETROIT: Murals In The Market. Dispatch 1

September 19, 2016 Artists

A Detroit lion taking form thanks to Atlanta’s Greg Mike at work on his mural. Murals In The Market – 1XRUN-Detroit-September 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

This market place is known for its local based foods and community based Detroit roots. We’re getting rides in cars at the moment – it is Detroit after all – but the best way to see the murals is on foot. Of course you may discover that there are some cutty little behind the scenes organic graffiti and Street Art spots too and this city has a lot of those as well.

Also, football fans – an ocean of them having “tailgate” parties in parking lots not far from the stadium before, during, and after the actual game. An organic practice born from the counter culture with hippies and rock bands back in the 60s and 70s, the “tailgating” of today is full-blown commodified excess with tents, chairs, flatscreen TVs, and beer. Lots of beer.

The wiley, quirky artists painting walls in the Eastern Market were inundated yesterday with these fans in team jerseys looking for parking spots and mural fans following maps and snapping pictures, and guys asking for a loosie or a light. Between the clubs/cafes, the sports fans, motorcyclists, custom bike tours, and pop-up djs hanging with the artists-the neighborhood was thumping with and aural menagerie of classic rock, funkadelic, hip-hop, and many slices of dance/techno throughout the day into the night.

Here a just a few of the artists at work whom we caught in the late summer Detroit sun.

Greg Mike is getting to work on the facade of a factory-like abandoned, now refurbishing, building that is jammed with organic graffiti inside. He came from a design background and says he grew up loving old-school cartoons like Ren & Stimpy and 1960s Disney characters. “All of that stuff inspires me and I like to mix it up and kind of mash them together,” he says.

Aside from being the symbol of the Detroit football team, the lion figures into his piece because it reminds him of his iconic personal character “Larry Loudmouth”.

“The lion is the loudest animal in the kingdom … I have him speaking the language of love because it is all about living life loud but being positive with the message of love – not just being angry, you know what I mean? There’s a lot of angry people out here.”

Sheryo at work on a tattoo inside The Yok and Sheryo’s Ping Pong Auto Shack” at the headquarters. That girl is a machine! Murals In The Market – 1XRUN-Detroit-September 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Valencia-based, Buenos Aires-born Felipe Pantone is knocking out a lateral slice of optic/ hallucinatory muralage in the heart of the Market across the street from Patch Whisky and Ghost Head’s new piece.

He usually works on walls that are taller and thinner perhaps, but he says he’s throwing himself into it by assessing it’s character and shape and creating a new mural in the moment.

“Yeah I’m used to working with every kind of format.
Every time you have to think of something specifically for the work. I didn’t bring anything from home – I saw the wall and sat across the street and looked at it for a while so I made this design that hopefully works.”

Is he a little unsure of how it is going to work, but he’s not worried about it.

“Uncertainty is the very essence of romance,” he says here on the sidewalk that is broken up and erupting. “That’s Oscar Wilde don’t give me the credit! But even when you don’t know what’s happening that still is what makes it fun.”

Mr. Jago is collaborating with Xenz on a wall and the music on this block it loud – a guy with a big grey beard and big belly just rode past blasting Foghat’s “Slow Ride,” effectively cancelling all conversation and even thoughts for a minute. Mr. Jago is himself nursing a sore shoulder, torso, head, and broken glasses from an unfortunate spill off a motorcycle recently. He moves limberly nonetheless, and keeps backing up into the traffic jam on the street, standing between cars to get some distance on his emerging composition.

“We’re going to slowly build it up I think and to add more of each other’s signature colors so they Marry,” he says of the celestial miasma emerging from the wall. He says that he and Xenz will begin with two large separate characters. “We will surround them with this sort of universe of gases and floating islands and his signature of insects and birds and make it a kind of nice place that doesn’t exist in this world.”

Detroits’ Pat Perry is taking a huge wall to address a huge issue bigger than Detroit, yet firmly rooted in its history as a car producing capital of the oil-burning 20th century. Even though it was trade agreements that turned much of this city into a shadow of that former muscular self, Perry is also looking hopefully to the end of the fossil-fuel age which is represented here by a marching band that reaches and arc and then declines.

“It’s like a timeline of the end of one chapter a humorous last celebration of the oil age,” he says.” This is kind of a look into the eight ball of the futuristic city of Detroit”

An illustrator for magazines and online publications, he says he is really a painter who has been doing a lot of landscapes lately. Painting with aerosol is not usual for him.

“I kind of don’t like the look of spray paint and I’m trying to make it feel more painterly I think if I had endless time I would try to make this all bucket paint. But I’m learning to work with this medium – like doing the big areas with bucket paint and doing small areas with line work but trying not to have the line look so huge and thick.”

“I’m from Charleston South Carolina and my buddy ghost beard lives up here so I’ve been coming here for some years now,” says Patch Whisky as we stand under a temporary tent on the street by his wall to hide from the midday sun.

His second year at Murals in the Market, Patch says the two are college buddies from the Art Institute of Pittsburgh 16 years ago and they have always had affinities for similar cultural references.

“Stylistically we are both cartoon dudes and we grew up watching those Bugs Bunny cartoons – so we both come from the same love of those characters that we grew up with.”

How would he describe his work?

“Colorful, playful, whimsical, creepy, silly.”

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ASTRO. Process shot. ONO’U Tahiti 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

ASTRO. Process shot. ONO’U Tahiti 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

ONO’U director Sarah Roopinia with ASTRO and crew sorting the lift. Process shot. ONO’U Tahiti 2017. (photo © Steven P. Harrington)

OKUDA. Process shot. ONO’U Tahiti 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

OKUDA. Process shot. ONO’U Tahiti 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

The ONO’U Fashion Show featuring a model wearing a garment painted by Phat1, 3 dancers, and a TV camera man. (photo © Steven P. Harrington)

The ONO’U Fashion Show featuring a model wearing a garment painted by Inkie. (photo © Steven P. Harrington)

The ONO’U Fashion Show finale with models and artists including Astro, Phat1, Abuz, Marko93, Lady Diva, Rival, and Inkie. (photo © Martha Cooper)

FINDAC. Process shot. ONO’U Tahiti 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

FINDAC. Process shot. ONO’U Tahiti 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Felipe Pantone. Process shot. ONO’U Tahiti 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Felipe Pantone. Process shot. ONO’U Tahiti 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Mrs Martine CHENESON at the Fashion Show. ONO’U Tahiti 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Vhils. Detail. ONO’U Tahiti 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Vhils. ONO’U Tahiti 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Vhils. ONO’U Tahiti 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Findac. Process shot. ONO’U Tahiti 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Findac. Process shot. ONO’U Tahiti 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Findac. Process shot. ONO’U Tahiti 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Findac. Process shot. ONO’U Tahiti 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Findac. Process shot. ONO’U Tahiti 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Flower market. ONO’U Tahiti 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Top image: Sonny Sundancer (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Hopare. Urban Art Fair NYC. June 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

John Ahearn(photo © Jaime Rojo)

El Sol 25 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

El Sol 25 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Crash. Urban Art Fair NYC. June 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Clint Mario (photo © Jaime Rojo)

SacSix for Welling Court 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Mark Jenkins. Urban Art Fair NYC. June 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Logan Hicks. Urban Art Fair NYC. June 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

#resistanceisfemale (photo © Jaime Rojo)

#resistancisfemale (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Banksy’s corner at Urban Art Fair NYC. June 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

FinDac. Urban Art Fair NYC. June 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Felipe Pantone. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Felipe Pantone (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Hot Tea tribute to Laser Burners (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Invader. Urban Art Fair NYC. June 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Invader (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Untitled. Summer 2017. Manhattan, NYC. June 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Top image: UFO907 . Smells (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Unidentified Artist on the street. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Unidentified Artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Unidentified Artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Sen2 at Trumpomania. Salomon Arts Tribeca. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Icy & Sot at Trumpomania. Salomon Arts Tribeca. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Olek at Trumpomania. Salomon Arts Tribeca. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Mikael Takacs at Trumpomania. Salomon Arts Tribeca. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Ann Lewis (photo © Jaime Rojo)

King (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Empty Boy . Stinkfish in Medellin, Colombia. (photo © Stinkfish)

Felipe Pantone (photo © Jaime Rojo)

El Sol 25 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Nico Panda . Beast (photo © Jaime Rojo)

BustArt. Basel, Switzerland. (photo © BustArt)

Jerk Face (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Koralie Supakitch (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Koralie Supakitch. Deatil. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Epic Uno (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Epic Uno (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Untitled. Manhattan. March 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Banksy. Urvanity 2017. Madrid, Spain. February 2017. (photo © Alfonso Herranz)

Laurence Vallières. Urvanity 2017. Madrid, Spain. February 2017. (photo © Alfonso Herranz)

Pro 176 . L’Atlas. Urvanity 2017. Madrid, Spain. February 2017. (photo © Alfonso Herranz)

An outdoor mural from the Urvanity Instagram page. “We are excited to be able to be painting incredible murals in #Madrid. This one is by @oiterone on Calle de la Cebada!”

Miss Van . Peca. Urvanity 2017. Madrid, Spain. February 2017. (photo © Alfonso Herranz)

Tilt . Moses & Taps. Urvanity 2017. Madrid, Spain. February 2017. (photo © Alfonso Herranz)

Nano4814. Urvanity 2017. Madrid, Spain. February 2017. (photo © Alfonso Herranz)

Vermibus . Jordan Seiler . OX. Urvanity 2017. Madrid, Spain. February 2017. (photo © Alfonso Herranz)

Sixe Paredes . Suso33 Urvanity 2017. Madrid, Spain. February 2017. (photo © Alfonso Herranz)

D*Face . Jason Woodside . Felipe Pantone . Pref . Okuda. Urvanity 2017. Madrid, Spain. February 2017. (photo © Alfonso Herranz)

Urvanity 2017. Madrid, Spain. February 2017. (photo © Alfonso Herranz)

Sergio Sancho and the Urvanity team outside the inaugural exhibition Palacio Neptuno. Check out their Instagram here.

1010. Goldman Global Arts. Hard Rock Stadium. Art Basel Miami 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Audrey Kawasaki at The Hotel. Goldman Global Arts. South Beach. Art Basel Miami 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

David Choe. Goldman Global Arts. Wynwood Walls. Art Basel Miami 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

David Choe portrait of Martha Cooper and her cat Mélia. Goldman Global Arts. Wynwood Walls. Art Basel Miami 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

David Choe. Goldman Global Arts. Wynwood Walls. Art Basel Miami 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Sergio Sancho and the Urvanity team outside the inaugural exhibition Palacio Neptuno.
Check out their Instagram here.